Electric motor control system



y 1947- .J. w. CONKLIN ELECTRIC MOTOR CONTROL SYSTEM Filed Feb. 24, 1943 ram/mu smrr Jnventor attorney W. w w w Patented July 1, 1947 ELECTRIC MOTOR CONTROL SYSTEM James W. Conklin, Indianapolis, Ind., asslgnor to America, a corporation of Radio Corporation of Delaware Application February 24, 1943, Serial No. 476,903

2 Claims. (01. 172-278) This invention relate to remote control systems and more particularly to servo systems of the follow-up type. Such systems ordinarily comprise a control shaft, a driven shaft, means for deriving a control voltage related in some predetermined manner to the diflerence in the angular positions of said shafts, and a driving motor arranged to respond to said control voltages and operate said driven shaft so as to reduce said difference to zero. The driving motor is ordinarily required to reverse, since the usual servo systems are operated in either direction of rotation. In order to permit operation from A.-C. mains, thereby avoiding the necessity for rectifying the energy for the driving motor, it is desirable to use an alternating current motor. Considerations of economy and convenience make it desirable to use an A.-C. motor of standard design.

Accordingly it is the principal object of this invention to provide an improved method of andv means for controlling the direction and speed of rotation of astandard induction motor in response to a control voltage.

Another object is to provide an improved method of and means for deriving control voltages in response to the difference in the an ular positions of two shafts.

A further object is to provide an improved servo system employing an induction motor of standard design.

These and other and incidental objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following description with reference to the accompanying drawing of which Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a control system embodying the present invention, Fig. 2 is a. schematic circuit diagram of a modified arrangement for deriving the motor control voltage for the system of Fig. 2, and Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a modified impedance control circuit.

Referring to Fig. 1, a standard two phase in duction motor I is provided with a capacitor 3 connected to the power input windings 5 and 1. The capacitor 3 is of the proper value to provide quadrature relationship between the currents. through the windings 5 and I. The junction point of the windings 5 and 1 is connected to one side of an A.-C. source 3. The other side or the source 9 is connected through the secondaries II and I3 respectively of a pair of transformers l5 and I! to the windings 5 and I. The

primary winding of the transformer i5 is center tapped and a pair of electron discharge tubes i9 and 2| are connected with their anode circuits in push-pull relationship to said secondary. A second pair of tubes 23 and 25 are similarly connected to the primary of the transformer H. The control grids of the tubes l9 and 2| are connected together and to a source of unidirectional voltage of adjustablemagnitude, such as a battery 21 shunted by a potentiometer 29.

The control grids of the tubes 23 and 25 are similarly connected together to a potentiometer 3|. The potentiometers 29 and 3i are mechanically connected as indicated by dash lines 33 and 35 to a mechanical linkage 31 which is provided with a control input device, such as a manually operable crank 39. The linkage 31 is arranged to operate the potentiometers 29 and 3| difierentially so that as the voltage applied to the control grids to the tubes [9 and 2| is increased, the voltage applied to the grids of the tubes 23 and 25is correspondingly.decreased. The shaft of the motor is mechanically coupled to the driven device and to the linkage 31, which is providedwith differential means so that the positions of the potentiometers 29 and 3| are determined by the difference in angular position of the shaft of the driving motor from that of the control member.

. The operation of the above described system is as follows:

Voltage from the A.-C. source 9 is app through the transformer windings II and i3 to both sides of the capacitor 3. As long as the' which conditions are controlled by the associated tubes l9, 2! and 23. 25 respectively, the curresistors 53 and 55.

-. 3 rents through the motor windings I and I will be in quadrature phase with respect to each other. and a relatively large torque'will be developed tending to cause the motor to rotate in. for example. a clockwise direction. If the above conditions are reversed, that is the winding II is short circuited and the winding II is open circuited, counter clockwise torque will be devel- T he secondaries H and it are designed to have relatively .high inductive reactances at the frequency of the supply 9 and are closely coupled to the respective primaries. Thus when the tubes l9 and 2| are out ofl, the impedance presented by the winding II to the motor circuit is very high and is substantially the equivalent of an open circuit. When the tubes I I and ii are biased to conduct, the impedance presented by the secondary II is relatively low. This impedance is equal to 2/11", where n is the turns ratio of the transformer and Z i the dynamic im edance of the tubes I9 and 2|. For intermediate values of tube resistance the quadrature relationship of the currents through the motor windings does not obtain, and the torque developed by the motor accordingly assumes correspondingly intermediate values. Thus by operating the potentiometers 29 and ii in differential relationship the conductivities of the tubes is and II are varied differentially, controlling the magnitude and direction of the torque developed by the motor I. The differential connection of the motor shaft to the control linkage produces a follow-up action, causing the potentiometers to be driven to their balanced positions when the output shaft is at an angular position corre; sponding to that of the control input shaft.

Referring to Fig. 2, the mechanical diilerential and potentiometer arrangement of Fig. 1 may be replaced by a polarity responsive circuit 43 and a pair of synchro transformers'45 and 41. The circuit 43 comprises a pair of electron discharge tubes 49 and with their anode circuits connected in push-pull relationship to a pair of load The rotor of the transformer 41 is coupled to the control input shaft, and the rotor of the transformer 45 is coupled to the driven output shaft. The stator windings of the transformers 45 and 41 are connected together. The rotor winding of the transformer 41 i connected to an A.-C. source 9, and the rotor winding of the transformer 45 is coupled to the control rids of the tubes 49 and 5| in push-pull relationship. The A.-C. source 9 is coupled to the grids of the tubes 49 and 5| in parallel relationship.

In operation, the voltage from the source 9 is applied through the cascaded synchro transformers 41 and 45 to thepush-pull input circuit of the circuit 43. The amplitude of this voltage depends on the difference in the angular positions of the rotors of the transformers 45 and 41. The polarity of this voltage with respect to that of the source 9 depends upon which of the transformer rotors leads the other. Assuming that the relative positions of the input and output shafts are such that the voltages applied to the grid of the tube49 through the synchro transformers is positive at the same time as the voltage applied thereto directly from the source 9, the resultant voltage on the grid of the tube 49 will be the sum of said voltages; the resultant applied to the grid of the tube 5! will be the difference of said voltages. The average potential drop across the load resistor 53 will be correspondingly largeand that across the resistor 55 will be correspondingly small. Thus as the angular difference between the input and output shafts is varied the output voltages of the detector 41 are diiterentlally varied in a corresponding manner. These voltages may be applied to impedance control circuits of the type described in connection with Fig. 1, providing operation similar to that of the system of Fig. l.

The impedance control tubes in the system of Fig. 1 are provided with push-pull connected anode circuits in order to provide symmetrical wave form of the voltages applied to the motor I. A single sided impedance control circuit as illustrated in Fig. 3 may be substituted providing that the wave form requirements are not too critical and the impedance control tubes are biased for class A operation.

Thus the invention has been described as an electrical servo system of the follow-up type, for use with induction motors of standard design. Motor control is achieved by means of electron discharge tubes connected to operate as variable impedances in a phase splitting network. with variation of the tube impedances, the phase relationship between the currents through the motor windings may be varied uniformly from that required to produce maximum torque in one direction to that required to produce maximum torque in the opposite direction. Control voltages for the impedance control tubes may be derived from variable voltage dividers connected across a D.-C. source, or from synchro transformers and a pola ity responsive circuit.

I claim as my invention:

1. A motor control system comprising a motor having two windings adapted to cause said motor to rotate in one direction or the other according to the relative phase of the energizing currents in said windings; a phase shifting capacitor having two terminals; a source of single phase alternating current, said windings being connected between one side of said source and the two terminals of said capacitor, respectively; a pair of transformers having their secondaries connected between the other side of said source and the terminals of said capacitor, respectively, each of said transformers having push-pull primary windings; two pairs of thermionic discharge tubes having their plate electrodes connected in push-pull relation with said primary windings, the plate potential for said tubes being solely that induced. across said primary windings by currents flowing in said secondary windings, and means for applying a first direct current control potential to the grid electrodes of one of saidpairs of tubes and a second direct current control potential to the grid electrodes of the other pair of tubes; and unitary means for varying simultaneously said first and second control potentials in opposite directions whereby to control the speed and direction of rotation of said motor.

2. A motor control system comprising a motor having two windings adapted to cause said motor to rotate in one direction or the other according to the relative phase of the energizing currents in said windings; a phase shifting capacitor having two terminals; a source of single phase alternating current, said windings being connected between one side of said source and the two terminals of said capacitor, respectively; a pair of transformers having their secondaries connected between the other side of said source and the terminals of said capacitor, respectively, each of said transformers having push-pull primary 5 windings; two pairs oi thermionic discharge tubes having their plate electrodes connected in pushpull relation with said primary windings, the

plate potential for said tubes being solely that induced acrosssaid primary winding; by currents 5 flowing in said secondary windings, and unitary means for selectively biasing oi! both tubes or one of said pairs while causing the tubes of the other pair to conduct alternately to cause a full sine wave current of controlled amplitude to flow through one or the other of said secondary windings, whereby the speedand direction of rotation of said motor is controlled.

JAMES W. CONKLIN.

file of this patent:

Number UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Day Dec. 2, 1902 Harrison Dec. 3, 1940 Mittag July 28, 1925 Moseley May 5, 1936 Hull Jan. 19, 1937 Newell Mar. 19, 1940 Brown Apr. 17, 1934 Satterlee Oct. 19, 1943 Crisson Nov. 13, 1938 Littlefleld Apr. 16, 1929 

